Fire vs Frost

[Deleted]

Hey, im currently 498 ilvl in Frost with 29.30% Haste and 497 in Fire with 33.40% Crit.

At the moment i keep switching the between the two, im playing fire for mainly single target fights such as Jin'Rok the Breaker and Council of Elders. I'm playing frost for Horridon and trash in between bosses.

I hear that fire is much better at scaling that frost once you hit 33%+ Crit.

My question is: When i play as fire my overall damage is a lot lower and also in trash fights etc.. Is that normal? And also during the Horridon fight as fire my Dps is massively lower than when i play as Frost..

Is fire only viable as a spec during specific fights?

[Tigo1337]

Council of Elders? Single Target? What is this?

[Deleted]

Mainly single target, but with Council yes you can multi dot but it doesn't add loads.

[Akraen]

Yay another fire vs. frost thread. This forum is getting incredibly tedious.

On trash or large AoE frost is going to pull ahead, frozen orb and cone of cold (glyphed). Frost is what you should play on single target (based off what you're indicating). Council is anything but a single target fight, they don't share a health pool - why would you think they're single target?

Fire is completely and totally viable on any encounter in normal or heroic. I'm Mr. Frost Mage so me saying that means something. But Frost is completely viable as well. If you're seeing fire is a lot lower on fights, then it might mean your gear and skill leans you towards frost. Or you have bad RNG.

Looking for the "best" solution right now is an exercise in futility and frustration, which has manifested itself throughout the first five pages of this forum. The mage community really needs to get a grip and realize that there are options now. Completely viable options. Skill and playstyle are the deciding factors now, just as they should be. No more cookie cutters, finally.

[Deleted]

I understand this situation is well debated at the moment.

So fire being viable for all fights, but in the end it comes more down to personal preference and play style?

Does this also mean that regardless of being at higher item level where crit will inevitably be higher, frost may still be able to pull the same dps on fights? Or will at higher item level, fire will simply be the pure dps spec for mages?

[Akraen]

I understand this situation is well debated at the moment.

So fire being viable for all fights, but in the end it comes more down to personal preference and play style?

Does this also mean that regardless of being at higher item level where crit will inevitably be higher, frost may still be able to pull the same dps on fights? Or will at higher item level, fire will simply be the pure dps spec for mages?

Even at the highest ilvl, frost competes with fire just fine. Just because Blood Legion mages are doing one thing doesn't mean there aren't droves of other mages out there doing something else and getting just as good results.

There will always be RNG swings, of course-- have to be realistic. They're very, very balanced though. It's best to pick one and gear specifically for that. I find most people have a spec that they're far more comfortable playing-- pick that one. Work on your UI, refine your methods, add to your understanding. Obsess over that spec and you'll be able to be one of the best DPS of any class.

Devs really have been working against the idea of being forced to change specs constantly, or being forced into one spec specifically. If Nether Tempest wasn't so powerful for all 3 specs, you'd see more fight-by-fight inconsistencies, but even that can be alleviated in many cases by simply changing your bomb.

[Deleted]

This has been very helpful, i spend so much gold switching between the specs, i like to have overall good damage, and with fire you just can't achieve that due to trash fights, and Horridon, it was horrible aha..

This has been very helpful! Been putting off buying specific gear atm. like the 522 trinket for haste..

[Akraen]

If you're sticking to frost, check out the recordings of my livestreams. I'm not all that great with twitch and xsplit yet so I had some weird settings, but it's 1080p and you can watch me play all the ToT fights.

http://www.twitch.tv/AkraenStormrage
also follow me on twitter for epic frost mage reports (and dev info when I can get them to talk) @AkraenStormrage